If you are a fan of home improvement networks like I am, you are well acquainted with the satisfaction some people get from Demolition Day. It’s like party time. However, although I enjoy those shows, I much prefer to watch the process on a screen from my couch, than to experience it.
If you know my husband at all, you know he is always in the middle of a project. Ripping up, punching holes, and breaking apart is apparently quite the thrill.
However daunting the task ahead, he greets demolition with a sense of challenge and ridiculous delight.
Because the first step in re-construction comes with de-construction.
As we watch world events today, we see the spectrum of good, bad, and ugly deconstruction.
We are horrified at the massive structural devastation from the tornadoes. Political events sadden us as we see their destructive effects on values, cultures, and institutions. We grieve at personal-faith deconstructionists who tout an anti-gospel.
But these are not new.
Building up the church in Corinth had not been a piece of cake for the Apostle Paul. He confronted immorality in the church, divisions, heresy, and faced painful public defamation. He experienced insults, lies, and uncovered plots to overturn his leadership. He had spiritual enemies with very unspiritual agendas. His trials produced a letter raw with emotion, honesty, and profoundly insightful. 2 Corinthians is deeply personal, real, yet vibrant with hope and spiritually constructive.
We need Paul’s message now as we watch the demolition of so much we hold dear. Had Paul lived here today, I think his words would have been much the same to our church, our country, and to those players who devastate the belief of others.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 ESV
Strongholds, all that is in opposition to Christ, are pulled down by the gospel of Christ. The gospel is something so earth shattering and spiritually awakening it moves minds and hearts. It reveals what’s underneath and changes our course from one direction to the opposite.
Paul writes 2 Corinthians to Christians. He stresses that any hold or dependency in our lives and hearts not in accordance to Christ Himself, needs to go on the rubbish pile.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 ESV
Paul declares demolition day. If we are concerned for others, the very first step is to get rid of our own trash. It involves a merciless acknowledgement of sin in our own lives, and it begins with our thoughts.
It would be more constructive to my own heart if I spent more time praying about troubling world events rather than the internal arguing and complaining I do. When our soul is filled with debris, whether of mind, heart, or action, it obscures a clear picture of Him to others.
As captives of Christ, we become free.
Every job my husband does first requires putting things in apparent worse shape than when he started. But, when he pulls things apart he has clarity about what is underneath.
Every home renovation shown on television discovers within the mess of tearing down something previously unknown. In the process of removing the old, construction workers find a clear picture of what lies within the walls, floor or ceiling.
This is what God’s Word and Spirit do within the Christian.
Yesterday as my husband demolished our son and daughter-in-law’s old deck, he discovered a reason the wood had rotted. The deck had been built on top of old rotted wood from a former deck. Without removing the first layer of rotten, a previous owner installed a new layer on top. Eventually both layers were compromised, rendering the entire platform unsafe.
Compatibility with sin does not equate compassion or constructive growth. True peace cannot be achieved by marrying the philosophies of unregenerate humanity together with godly thought and obedience.
I need this reminder from Paul. My attempts done in the flesh, to right wrongs, change people’s behavior, or convince thought, fall short of the divine power of transformation only Christ can accomplish.
Cleared ground becomes fertile for building new.
Our truck is full of piles of rotted wood and useless scraps from the two rotted old decks. Today my husband is hauling away all of it to the dump. And then, with the rubbish gone, it gets much more exciting. It’s construction time!
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